International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887) Volume 57– No.21, November 2012 17 Applying Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) to Evaluate Factors Locating Emergency Logistics Platforms Karima ZEJLI Laboratory of mechanics and physics of heterogeneous environment (LMPH), Faculty of Science and Technology (FST), Tangier, Morocco Abdellah AZMANI Laboratory of Sciences Computer, Systems and Telecommunication (LIST) Faculty of Science and Technology (FST), Tangier, Morocco Sanae KHALI ISSA Laboratory of Sciences Computer, Systems and Telecommunication (LIST) Faculty of Science and Technology (FST), Tangier, Morocco ABSTRACT This paper presents the results in terms of characterization of humanitarian supply chains, it also proposes a framework for modeling the problem of locating logistics platforms in emergency affected areas based on the use of Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP). General Terms Making decision, artificial intelligence, Multicriteria analysis, Logistics. Keywords Disaster, Humanitarian logistics, Industrial logistics, Disaster management cycle, Emergency logistics platforms, Vulnerability, Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM), Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP). 1. INTRODUCTION The growth of natural and technological hazards is a worldwide worrying phenomenon. Is mainly caused by industrialization and the increase of areas with high occupant densities. The risks therefore pose a global challenge for the future and constitute one of the main problems of sustainable development. Given their geographical location, many counties, are exposed in terms of natural hazards, to climatic, meteorological, geological or biological phenomenon, which may cause major risks such as floods, flash floods, earthquakes and landslides. These natural phenomena can cause damage or compromise the socio-prone areas natural disaster countries (see Figure1). In the case of emergency operations, humanitarian logistics is used to support the organization and the implementation of response actions, so that they can be not only quick, but also agile and effective. The mobilization of personnel, equipment and the necessary materials for the work of organizations that provide assistance, and even casualty evacuation procedures or reorientation of people affected by the disaster, need a logistics system so that these activities can be efficiently implemented. Humanitarian supply chains have many particularities that generate a number logistical issue very different from those usually encountered in the private sector. The study of humanitarian supply chains is a prerequisite necessary for the understanding of the best practices that should be adapted and transferred in different situations. The choice of location logistics units determines the performance of the humanitarian supply chain. They play an essential role in defining the strategy to be adopted by the humanitarian supply chain. To consider these, we need to identify the criteria for their evaluation and define their mutual impacts and their dependencies to better opt for a satisfactory place. This approach requires the development of a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) developed on the basis of work that we published previously [1]. One of the useful methods of MCDM is Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) introduced by Saaty (1980) [2], it plays an important role in alternatives selecting [3], [4]. AHP is one of the extensively methods used to resolve the MCDM problems [5],[6]. AHP uses understanding and informed knowledge without the need of specific data. But the weakness of AHP is that it deals with expert's judgment which évluate their eigenvalues by a number varying between 1 and 9 in order to handle the uncertainty associating to their judgments. So as to overcome this deficiency, Fuzzy set is used within AHP calculations to determine the best alternative [6], [7]. The association between AHP and fuzzy, represented by the FAHP term, set leads to more flexibility in judgment and decision making. Fuzzy AHP (or FAHP) reflects human thinking as it uses approximate information and uncertainty to generate decision in addition to inheritance of the advantages of AHP, ease of handling qualitative and quantitative data, use of hierarchical structure, pairwise comparison, reduce inconsistency, and generates priority vectors [4]. This paper is organized as follows: section 2 provides presentation of humanitarian logistics, in section 3 the introduction and application of fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) in the section 5 is the conclusion and prespectives.